Flashback... Aiva's Dance Recital

Back in May, Aiva had her very FIRST dance recital. She and her cousin Courtney were in the same class, and waaay back then, I promised my sister-in-law that I would post some of my pictures on my blog so she could use some of the photos. Oops. So here we are, the week of Thanksgiving, and I am just now posting pictures. (Forgive me, Sarah!) So enjoy some pictures of our little bumblebee and her first dance recital.

Aiva is second from the right.

Aren't they so cute?!



The first was tap. This is ballet. She's a little flower.

Hehe. So cute!

Aiva and her cousin Courtney

Sarah and Court

Me and my little bumblebee

I love this. This is for the finale, and all of the dancers are jammin out together on-stage. Aiva is the furthest on the left and you can see that she is doing the twist. She was really getting into it!

And after it was all over, Mike gave Aiva some flowers. That is one of my sweet memories of when I danced, was my dad always bringing me flowers after my recitals.

Hope you enjoyed that little blast from the past. :)

Why I Shop Second-Hand

I buy almost all of my kids' clothing at second-hand stores, and a great deal of mine as well. (Name-brand jeans for 1/3 the cost? Heck yes.)

Case in point:

Cowgirl boots for Aiva for $2 . 70. Uh huh.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

Usually we go to J & J Nursery with my work to get pumkins every Fall, but we didn't make it this year. Instead we went to Day Farms and picked out a few pumpkins for this years' festivities. Can I just say (again, like every Fall) how much I LOVE this time of year? I love picking out pumpkins, I love Fall clothes. I love the smells, the colors. The varieties in weather. Can it just be Fall all year long???

I love this picture. Isn't my my husband so handsome? :)

Love Emma's cheesy smile!

Cute Aiva. :)



Mike giving the girls a little "hay ride" after we'd chosen out our pumpkins.

Well, hello there!

Well, after 4 months of absence, I am back to my blog. Sort of. For now. See, I blog for selfish reasons. For me, it is purely social. It helps me feel connected to the world. To my friends. For some people, it is a way to document their lives, and blogging is a fun way to accomplish that. My life and the lives of my family are very, very documented already. You see, I keep 4 separate journals, all for different purposes. That's right, 4. (One for Aiva, one for Emma, a "normal" one for me and a spiritual journal.) And they are all up-to-date. I also keep photo albums. So blogging for me is not a journal or a way to keep up on stuff. For me it is a way to reach out and feel connected.

Since I've joined Facebook, to be honest, I just haven't felt as motivated. Facebook is so easy, so quickly gratifying. It's so easy to feel connected to others there. But I miss blogging. I miss the creativity. The pictures. The well-thought-out post with a mission in mind. It is so much more personal and feels deeper and more satisfying. For that reason, and the fact that a few of you have been nagging at me to do it, I'm back. For now. We'll see how it goes.

I have a lot of catching-up to do, but I'm not going to worry about that too much. Occasionally maybe I'll do a post documenting something we've done over the past few months, but for the most part I'm going to start where I am.

Starting below is a post including some recent family photos and a few little updates on the family.

Family Update

Beyond the day of our wedding, Mike and I have never had professional pictures taken. We didn't get professional engagements. We've never had family pictures. I've never had professional pictures taken of my daughters. No, that's not true. I took my kids to Kiddie Kandids for the free pictures every so often. We have not a single family photo in our house. Sad. Time to rectify that.

So, thanks to Hamblin Photography (www.hamblinphoto.com), we finally have some beautiful pictures to hang in our home. I've posted a few of my favorites below, along with some family updates.

Aiva turned 4 in August. She is such a sweet, funny, smart girl! Aiva is so sweet. She is very quick to say "I love you." She loves preschool and playing with her friends and her little sister. This girl has SO MUCH ENERGY and has enthusiasm for EVERYTHING in life. I remember when I was pregnant with her, I could literally FEEL her excitement. I remember saying over and over, "This little girl is so excited to be here!" and she has confirmed that with every breath she takes. Simply taking her to a store is exhausting because she gets so excited about everything she sees and wants to touch it, and hold it, and show it to me. Aiva also loves books. A few weeks ago we took her to the store with a few dollars and told her that she could pick out a toy. She walked up and down the ailes and we looked at many toys but no one toy could hold her attention. Until she saw the books. And then she sat down in the middle of the store and sat and looked at books for about 20 minutes until we told her she had to pick one. Aiva is excited to learn. She's excited to experience everything. Life with Aiva is going to be a fun adventure, because everything to her is just that.

Our little Emma. She is 21 months, going on 3. She has the sweetest, most endearing little personality. And that is magnified by the fact that she can talk very well for her age. When a toddler under 2 can say pretty much anything she wants, it's quite cute! For example, we were in the car the other day running errands and I handed her back a peanut butter sandwich (as I often pack a little lunch when I think we might be out past lunch) and I could see her back there playing in it (as she often does) and I said, "Emma, eat your sandwich." She replied with, "No. No want to," in the most congenial of tones. How does one argue with that? She loves to be rocked still (which I LOVE, as Aiva never let me rock her from day one) and she loves to sing. When she's off playing alone, I will often catch her singing to herself, and the words and rhythm are clear enough that I can tell what she's singing, usually "I Am a Child of God" or the "ABC's". Emma is also a major Momma's Girl. It's quite the task for me to get anything done when she is awake, as she follows me around constantly streaming, "Hold you me! Hold you me! Hold you me!" It's, honestly, a bit annoying at times, but endearing at the same time. We love this sweet little girl.

One thing that has been so gratifying for me has been watching my two daughters grow to be such close friends. They play together all day long. They fight. They argue. And they love each other dearly. I have two younger sisters that are close in age to each other but quite younger than me, and although they are my best friends now, we weren't particularly close growing up, and I always yearned for that close sisterly relationship that I watched them have. It has been so precious to me watching my daughters become friends. Aiva often refers to Emma as her best friend and Emma always lights up when "Yee Yee" comes in the room. (She can say "Aiba" but often affectionately calls her Yee Yee.) I am so glad that they have each other.

Mike and I. What's new? Not a whole lot. Mike recently started a new job in Ogden at Marketstar. Which means no more working from home. I've had very mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I enjoy the freedom. For some reason, I feel so much more motivated to get things done when he's not home all day, and there is a set time that he'll be home. I feel motivated to have the house clean and dinner ready when he walks through the door. I feel a little bit like I'm living in the 50's sometimes, and I like that. :) I feel empowered to not have him to rely on during the day. I have to take care of problems all by myself. And I'm excited for Mike to be able to get out of the house. He used to get pretty stir-crazy. I'm excited for him to have co-workers again. He really missed that when he worked for New Zealand. On the other hand...I've been strangely a little bit jealous. I used to be the one that he had "water cooler talk" with during work. I'd go downstairs to do laundry and I'd stop to rub his shoulders and sit with him and chat for a few minutes. Now I go downstairs to do laundry, and it's cold and dark and my best friend isn't there. Now he gets to do that work-chat with his new friends at work (minus the shoulder-rubs, of course). I think that overall, this new job will be a refreshing change of pace for all of us. But I miss him. The girls miss him. Mike has been home every day of Emma's life. He has been so much more involved than most dads are able to be. He and I have loved it and our girls have loved it. We'll miss it. But it's okay. All in all, it's a good change.

Most of all, at this time I feel so blessed. Do you ever have days that you feel so happy, and you stop to think about why, and all you can think of is that you feel full of love and life? I have felt that lately. I love my family. I love where my life is taking me. And I know that wherever it does take me, I will be okay as long as I have these amazing people in it.

So there's a little bit about us. How are you doing? :)

Summer pettiskirts and a fun photoshoot!

Our Summer skirts are here, and we are THRILLED! Following are pictures with descriptions of the colors and sizing. Scroll down and take a peek!!

YELLOW

Size Medium (ages 3-5)

LIGHT PINK

size small (1-4)

LIGHT BLUE

size infant

RED

size large (ages 4-7) and small (1-4)

Perfect for those summer activities, and the holiday season as well!

Quick recap: All skirts are $20! Each skirt is made from 35 yards of high-quality nylon chiffon! Hand wash, line dry.

And, if you couldn't guess, my favorite part of the entire thing was taking pictures of my girls. Ahh, I love 'em! :)

To purchase, email me at: colecouture@yahoo.com

One Of My Favorite Things

I Love This Stuff

I have a pair of old, favorite pants that I spilled grease on, and after being washed and dried, the grease hadn't come off. They sat in my drawer for over a year. Until I discovered THIS. (I got mine at Hobby Lobby. I've also seen it at fabric stores. It's like $4.) I put a little on, let it sit for a few minutes. Put it through the wash. Walah!! Grease spots GONE.

Know how you'll put your kids' dirty clothes in the wash and they come out with the majority of it clean, but some little dark grease spots left behind? This stuff'll take it out AFTER it's been through the dryer!!

Grandma's Secret Spot Remover. Go get some. You'll thank me.